Consternation consistently surrounds the Dallas Cowboys. No more so than in the quiet hours of the offseason when "America's Team" stays mostly silent in free agency.

In truth, the biggest addition the Cowboys could make this year is getting center Travis Frederick back healthy. While the avenue for that eventuality has plenty of pitfalls that can pop up, so far, so good.

Frederick will not partake in team drills when OTAs open and is likely to miss June minicamp after offseason shoulder surgery to clean up a labrum issue. The 28-year-old, however, expects to be ready for everything once training camp begins in July.

The pivotal piece of the Cowboys offensive line noted that he won't really know how his recovery is going until he's able to work in full pads.

"I think that's where we are in the point of recovery and I think that's going to be an important step to my return, being able to go through (practice in pads) and there's going to be rust," Frederick said. "You're going to have to knock the rust off during training camp and get back to doing those. You can do the movements on air as much as you want but it's not until you're going against a live person that you feel football."

If Frederick returns like he didn't miss a snap -- a big if at this stage -- it would be the biggest boost the Cowboys offense could ask for in 2019.